"I want you to come to the Gathering tonight."
Silverpaw's eyes widened.
"Really?" She could barely contain the excitement in her voice. She knew that the moon was full tonight, but Ashpaw had warned her that new apprentices rarely got to go Gatherings and that she hadn't gone to her first one until at least her second moon of training. She had only been an apprentice for a couple of sunrises.
"No. I thought it would be funny to get your hopes up and then crush them." Goldenfrost purred in amusement, his whiskers twitching.
Silverpaw swatted playfully at her mentor. "Are Nightpaw, Hawkpaw and Stonepaw going to come too?"
"Nightpaw is. Hawkpaw and Stonepaw can wait their turns." Rumbled Emberclaw, the ginger deputy walking up from behind them, "And I know you're my son, Goldenfrost, but I'd appreciate it if next time you'd wait for me to announce these things first before spreading word around camp."
Silverpaw purred as her mentor looked embarrassed, scratching the ground with a claw.
"Can I tell Nightpaw?" She mewed.
Emberclaw sighed, but she could tell by the sparkle in his eyes that he wasn't truly upset. "You might as well, because I know you're going to anyways, Silverpaw."
Running off to her den, Silverpaw practically leapt on top of the sleeping form of her brother. Nightpaw let out a soft groan, shoving her off of him. "Go away, Silverpaw. I just got back from dawn patrol. Lemme sleep…"
Sitting down on her haunches, she unsheathed a single claw and began to gently prod him in the side with it. "C'mon, c'mon, you can sleep later! Wake up, Nightpaw! Remember when you were always pestering me to wake up and play as a kit?"
A single blue eye opened. "And you think you would understand the displeasure of being woken up from a good dream." The black apprentice muttered, closing his eyes again. Silverpaw jabbed him again, this time harder. With a groan, her brother sat up, shaking moss from his fur.
"I'm up, I'm up. You better have received a message from Starclan telling you that I'm going to be leader." Despite his grumpy tone, Silverpaw knew that her favorite brother wasn't really mad at her.
"Not exactly. Besides, I'm going to be leader." Silverpaw mewed, puffing out her chest.
"You can be my deputy." She added kindly.
"Oh gee, thanks."
"Goldenfrost just told me we're going to the Gathering tonight!" Surprise shone in Nightpaw's eyes, followed by excitement and pleasure and then worry.
"What about Stonepaw and Hawkpaw?" He asked slowly, looking around, as if making sure the two toms weren't in the den.
"They'll get to go next time, said Emberclaw. But isn't this great?"
"I just wished that we'd all get to go to our first Gathering together, I suppose." Silverpaw had never been overly fond of her other two littermates, but Nightpaw's loyalty and kindness was one of the reasons that she liked the black tom so much. When Silverpaw had been fighting with Stonepaw and Hawkpaw, Nightpaw had always tried to play the middle-cat and get them to make up. It usually didn't work, but Silverpaw thought that they all adored him for his effort, even if they didn't always get along with each other.
"We all can't do everything together, silly." She purred, giving him a lick behind his ear. "Besides, there are four of us! Bringing two new apprentices is pushing it, let alone four."
"I know." Nightpaw mewed simply, though there was still worry in his eyes, "I just don't think Stonepaw and Hawkpaw are going to be happy."
"Those mousebrains are never happy." Scoffed Silverpaw dramatically, rolling her eyes, "Well, at least they're never happy when I'm happy. They live off my misery."
"What's this about misery?" Stonepaw pushed his way into the apprentice's den. Silverpaw threw herself at her oldest brother, pummeling him with her paws.
"The misery you're going to feel when you find out who's going to the Gathering!" She crowed.
"Silverpaw!" Nightpaw sounded aghast, "We were supposed to break it to them gently."
"Break what to us?" Hawkpaw had come in, his striped fur puffed out.
"Nightpaw and I are going to the Gathering!"
Hawkpaw's amber eyes darkened and Stonepaw shoved her off of him. "What about us, though? We've been apprentices just as long." He hissed, ears flattening.
"It's not exactly their fault." Stonepaw pointed out, "Emberclaw and Stormstar decide who go to the Gatherings."
"Silverpaw was always Stormstar's favorite. I bet that's why she gets to go and we don't. It's not fair. I should be going to the Gathering too." Spat Hawkpaw, tail lashing and amber eyes glowing angrily.
"I'm sure that's not true – " Nightpaw began diplomatically, but the dark tabby tom had turned tail and stalked out of the den.
Stonepaw shrugged apologetically. "Don't mind him. He's just upset because he missed a squirrel earlier and Grayheart gave him a tongue lashing for acting up in training. It's no wonder he's not going to the Gathering."
"You could have been a little nicer about it, Silverpaw." Nightpaw mewed.
Silverpaw's ears drooped a little, suddenly feeling guilty. Hawkpaw and Stonepaw were her kin, even if they had thought it was funny to put beetles in her nest and pretend she didn't exist when she walked by when they were kits. "I'm sorry." She murmured. Stonepaw pressed his muzzle against her face, purring softly.
"I saw the size of that pigeon you caught today. You both deserve to be going to the Gathering." He mewed, "I'll go talk to Hawkpaw."
She felt a sudden surge of affection for her oldest brother, feeling even worse for holding a grudge against him. She hadn't realized how much he had matured in the last moon and with a pang, she too wished that they could all go to the Gathering together.
Nightpaw flicked her with his tail. "Can I go back to sleep now?"
xxxxxxxxx
Silverpaw padded alongside of her brother at the back of the party, walking behind their mentors. She noticed that Goldenfrost and Fernheart were walking unusually close, their heads bowed as they talked to each other in hushed whispers. She pricked her ears, straining to hear what they were saying, but Nightpaw was chattering so loudly in her ear that she couldn't make out their words. Frustrated, she gave up and resigned herself to listening to her brother wonder how many cats would be there and if Riverclan really smelled as bad as Cedarstripe they did. She knew that he was only chattering on because he was as nervous as going to their first Gathering as she was.
"Is that the island?" Nightpaw's eyes widened. Silverpaw let out a small gasp. In the moonlight, the lake was beautiful, reflecting the starlight. She could see faint lights flashing from the dark island that jutted out of the water, probably fireflies.
They reached the tree bridge and as they began to cross, Shadowclan's patrol came up behind them. She wrinkled her nose at their scent. They smelled worse up close than the scents they left behind at the border. She was the last of her clanmates to jump onto the log, her claws unsheathing as she scrabbled to keep her balance on the branchy tree. She hadn't expected it to be quite so challenging, but Nightpaw didn't seem to be having any problems, so she pushed ahead, trying to ignore the bile rising in her throat.
Suddenly, the log gave a great heave and she lost her footing. She let out a terrified screech, but a strong jaw gripped her scruff, leaving her hanging above the surface of the lake, her long tail just grazing the surface. Her body stiffened as she was pulled back onto the safety of the tree bridge, her fur standing on end. For a moment, she stood there, paralyzed, her claws digging into the bark.
"Get a move on!" called a grumpy voice from somewhere on the shore.
Giving her chest a quick lick, she scrambled forward, crossing the last few tail lengths, feeling relieved when her paws hit solid ground. Only then did she turn to see who had rescued her. Without realizing it, she began to stare, her eyes as wide as the full moon above. The Shadowclan tom was larger than any cat she had ever seen. She had always thought her father was a tall cat, but this tom easily dwarfed him. She doubted Stormstar's head would come to this cat's shoulders. His pelt was golden with beautiful black dappling and his eyes were a pale gold, flecked with green. The shape of his head was exotic and handsome. Her jaw dropped a little, speechless. He looked like a warrior straight out of Leopardclan!
"Can you speak?" The tom was looking at her strangely and suddenly she realized that he had asked her more than once if she was okay.
"Oh, um… yeah. I'm fine. Thanks to you. I mean. Thanks for saving me." She stumbled over her words, feeling heat rise to her ears in hot embarrassment.
The handsome warrior's whiskers twitched and she thought she saw a flash of warm amusement in his pale eyes. "Just don't make me save you again." He rumbled, even his voice sounding deeper and more exotic than the average clan cats, making all of her fur stand on end, like a current of electricity was running through it. Did all Shadowclan sound like that?
"I see you've met Fallenfire." A nudge jolted her back into reality. Ashpaw's blue eyes were glowing with amusement. Silverpaw wanted to melt into the ground, realizing how stupid she must have looked, just gawking at a Shadowclan warrior.
"Don't worry. I think even all the male apprentices have even had a crush on Fallenfire before." Her denmate joked, "He's handsome, isn't he? I heard that his father was some sort of exotic kittypet that Twolegs kept. But don't let him hear you say that! Dawnfur told me that he once took on three warriors at the same time and sent them all squealing back to their mothers without even a scratch."
Silverpaw blinked in awe. "Wow." She whispered.
"Don't you two have better things to do than sit around gossiping about Shadowclan cats?" Suddenly Ravenstorm appeared behind him, his fur bristling in irritation, "The Gathering's about to start, if you two can stop mooning over that kittypet for half a second."
Ashpaw and Silverpaw exchanged half-amused, half-frightened stares before going to settle down among the Clans.
"Which leader is which?" She whispered to her denmate as the leaders jumped up into the branches of the great oak.
"The pale tabby tom who looks like he has ants under his pelt is Thistlestar." The Shadowclan leader did look distinctly ruffled, as if he had something disgusting underneath his nose. Ashpaw purred. "He always looks like that. Next to him is Amberstar, the leader of Windclan."
"What's that apprentice doing up there? He can't be much older than us." Silverpaw twitched her ears at the tiny white cat sitting in the lower branches of the tree, his pale silver stripes barely visible in the moonlight.
"That's not an apprentice! That's Littlestar, Riverclan's leader. Don't underestimate him because of his small stature – he's clever as a fox with a silver tongue. I don't even think his own Clan trusts him completely."
"Didn't I tell you two to be quiet?" Ravenstorm hissed, "The leaders are about to speak. Show some respect."
Amberstar dipped her head, beginning the Gathering. "Prey had been running well in Windclan." She mewed, "A dog was found roaming on our territory a quarter moon ago. Two of our apprentices were valiant in fighting it off and earned their warrior names in return. Windclan honors Quickstep and Cinderfoot!"
Cheers from all clans echoed through the clearing and Silverpaw joined her voice to theirs, feeling suddenly to be a part of something much bigger.
Stepping back, Stormstar took her place. "Thunderclan has good news as well. We welcome four new apprentices: Nightpaw, Hawkpaw, Stonepaw and Silverpaw."
Silverpaw puffed out her chest as her name was called. Stormstar continued, "We also welcome Dawnfeather's two new kits to the clan."
The Gathering seemed relatively peaceful thus far. "Riverclan has as new deputy." Ripples of shock echoed through the clans.
"What happened to Darknight?" Whispered a Windclan tom sitting not far from her.
"Did he die?" Demanded a Shadowclan warrior.
"Darknight has retired." Littlestar proclaimed above the murmuring. Silverpaw blinked, confused.
"Why is everyone so surprised?" She whispered to Ashpaw.
"Darknight was a young warrior, only made deputy two seasons ago. I wonder what happened to him!" Her denmate's blue eyes were round as the Riverclan leader waited for the noise to die down before continuing.
"He has retired to the elder's den. Blackwhisker will take his place."
Instead of cheers, there was only shocked silence. Littlestar didn't seem to notice. "We also congratulate Hollowpaw on becoming a full medicine cat, taking on the name Hollowsong."
Reluctantly, the clans raised their voices in congratulations. Peering across the clearing, she spotted a proud looking young black tom sitting next to a pretty brown she-cat, who she assumed was Icepool, the medicine cat of Riverclan. She was surprised to notice that Cloudwhisker did not join in. Instead the white tom stared at Hollowsong with narrowed eyes and she wondered what had happened between the two medicine cats.
"That is all." Stepping back, Thistlestar took his place.
"Shadowclan has a new medicine cat apprentice, Lightningpaw. Prey has been running well, though a small band of rogues thought they could help themselves to our bountiful prey. Fallenfire lead the patrol that chased them off. I don't think we'll ever see them set foot in Shadowclan territory again."
The other leaders exchanged worried looks. If the rogues were not truly gone, they could pose a threat to the other clans.
"The gathering is concluded!" The ruffled leader jumped down from the tree, quickly followed by the other leaders. Silverpaw noticed Stormstar pad up to Emberclaw, the two cats talking in quiet, hushed voices. While all the news was relatively peaceful, she could sense a tension between the cats in the clearing and she felt something was not quite right as she made the trip back to her camp.
AN: Thanks to everyone who's read this up to now! Your reviews and views mean a lot to me.